A blog dealing with either the joy of cinema or the agony of cinema--nothing in between.

Thursday, April 7, 2011

Once Brothers

In the late 80s, a group of friends from Yugoslavia on the national basketball team, a mixture of Croatians and Serbians, journeyed to America to take part in the NBA draft and join the league, something that prolific foreign players and had not done before. Once Brothers tells the story of the friendship between Vlade Divac, a Serb and Drazen Petrovic, a Croat. After growing as friends and teammates on the Yugoslavian team, the two men supported each other as they struggled to adjust to life in America. Then in 1991, the twos relationship began to wilt as Croatia and other countries began to break off from Yugoslavia and war erupted in Eastern Europe. After a misunderstanding, the two had a falling out with Petrovic never forgiving Divac for a perceived slight against Croatia. As Divac tried to repair their relationship, he eventually lost his chance when Petrovic was killed in a car crash the summer of 1993. Divac narrates this tale of healing, as he travels to Croatia for the first time in twenty years to speak to Drazen's mother and brother to finally gain some close the their wounded friendship. Once Brothers is an affecting story, woven with wonderful stock footage, that tells a sad and ultimately redemptive story.